Hørsholm and Copenhagen, Denmark, and Groningen, the Netherlands, September 25, 2012 / B3C newswire / - Biotech companies ExpreS2ion Biotechnologies and Mucosis, along with University of Copenhagen today announced that they have been awarded a Eurostars(TM) grant with a total budget of over €1 million for the pre-clinical development of an innovative placental malaria vaccine. This collaboration will apply novel vaccine technologies developed at Mucosis and ExpreS2ion to a malaria antigen developed at University of Copenhagen in a project funded by The Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation. This vaccine development program aims to provide women in high-risk areas lifelong protection against malaria infection.

Thomas Johnston, CEO of Mucosis, commented: "This Eurostars(TM) funded collaboration will leverage the strengths of our Mimopath mucosal vaccine platform in combination with the contributions of our two prestigious partners in a high-burden disease area. We see this opportunity as a further validation of our platform and its potential to combat the most difficult of infectious diseases."

Dr. Charlotte Dyring, CEO of ExpreS2ion, said: "We are excited that we have secured this grant and that we will be collaborating with Mucosis and their innovative vaccine delivery approaches, and with the team at UCPH that has discovered and progressed the new promising placental malaria vaccine antigen. This collaboration will allow us to apply glycosylation engineering to the ExpreS2 platform, thus widening the potential of this efficient platform for production of recombinant proteins. The consortium members have specific complementary know-how and expertise that ensure an efficient development path in addressing a substantial global health need."

Dr. Ali Salanti, Associate Professor University of Copenhagen, said: "Vaccines are one of the most efficient health interventions; however development of a malaria vaccine remains a substantial challenge. Furthermore, a malaria vaccine to protect pregnant women from malaria would ideally offer long lasting protection, and conventional vaccine methods so far do not deliver this. In this new collaboration we will have the opportunity to apply novel vaccine technologies developed at Mucosis and Expres2ion to our malaria vaccine antigen developed at University of Copenhagen, with the aim to develop such a vaccine that can offer women long term protection against malaria."

About Mucosis

Mucosis B.V. is a clinical-stage Dutch biotechnology company with a proprietary platform technology, Mimopath®, on which it develops mucosal vaccines with improved efficacy. Mucosis's lead product is SynGEM(TM), a vaccine to prevent RSV viral infection. Mimopath®-based vaccines can be administered needle-free in the nose and mouth, evoking a more natural immune response with a broader base of protection.

The Centre for Medical Parasitology (CMP) is a collaboration between University of Copenhagen and Rigshospitalet and the centre's research is focused on malaria. CMP is part of a well-established international scientific network, composed of scientists in Europe, Africa, America and Australia. More than 60 scientists and technicians are affiliated at CMP.